Israel: One Soul United

The Jewish nation is beyond the influence of the stars.

"Israel is a unique nation in this world." (Samuel II 7:23) It has been crowned (singled out) with a single crown consisting of two facets: one in a general way and one in a specific way.

The entire nation is considered as if it were one person; this is why the Torah refers to the people as "Nefesh", "person" [in the singular], already at the time Jacob descended into Egypt. (in Gen. 46:26) The significance of this lies in the fact that "Because His people Israel are part of G‑d Himself". (Deut. 32:9)

The remainder of mankind was divided into 70 nations, each one with a representative in the Celestial Regions, i.e. an astrological constellation presided over by an angelic "minister", as we know from the verses: "…which the Lord your G‑d assigned to all the nations; He took you and removed you from the iron crucible, from Egypt, to be for Him His very own nation, as is now the case". (Deut. 4:19,20)

The Jewish People's fortunes are not guided by intermediaries….

The Jewish People's fortunes are not guided by intermediaries such as the constellations. The 70 nations were divided from one another as we know from the verse: "When the most High gave nations their homes and set the divisions of man, He fixed the boundaries of peoples in relation to Israel's numbers." (Deut. 32:8) The relationship (i.e. common denominator) between the "numbers" of Israel and that of the nations of the world is that Israel numbered 70 when they first went down to Egypt. The difference is only that the 70 Israelites that came to Egypt are all described as Nefesh, a single person.

Any part of the Jewish nation is compared to the entire nation. Because Israel is part of G‑d, it has an eternal future, as pointed out in the Talmud: "Every Israelite has a share in the World to Come." (Sanhedrin 90)

In addition to this common factor which links every Israelite with one another to form part of the whole, each Israelite is a distinct individual, as is evident from a statement by our sages: "Any righteous person is burned or singed by the fire G‑d has provided as part of the canopy He grants to every righteous person." (Bamidbar Raba 21:22, based on Isaiah 4:5) This teaches that though every Israelite has his share in the World to Come, everyone is assigned a place of his own.

Concerning this state of affairs, Moses said, "The Lord guided him separately, unaccompanied by any alien power." (Deut. 32:12) The word "guided him" in this verse is in the singular (i.e. guided him, not guided us) to stress that every Israelite is an individual personality. When Moses continued, "He was not accompanied by another power", this refers to the supernal angelic ministers and constellations assigned to guide the fates of the Gentiles. None of those forces exercise the slightest control over the Jewish people.

Rabbi Isaiah HaLevi Horowitz [5320/1560 - 11 Nissan 5390/1630] served many years as chief rabbi in Frankfurt and then Prague, his birthplace. In 1621 he moved to Israel and became the chief rabbi of Jerusalem. He is best known as the author of Shenei Luchot HaBrit, a work of Scripture commentary and Jewish Law, and is usually referred to as "the SHeLaH", the acronym of its title. He lived the last years of his life in Tzefat although his burial place is in Tiberias, only a few meters from the tomb of the Rambam. It is a popular pilgrimage site, especially on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan, which he himself recommended as a propitious time for saying the special prayer for success in educating one’s children that he composed.Eliyahu Munk, the translator, was born in Frankfurt, and emigrated to England as a young man, later moving to Toronto. After retiring from education and moving to Israel in 1978, he began an extraordinary second career as a translator, publishing English versions of the Torah commentaries of Rabbeinu Bechayei, Akeidat Yitzchak, Shelah, Alshich and Ohr Hachaim.